An utterly dejected Brian Joubert admitted he needed to change his attitude from 'being a boy to a man' after his Olympic hopes were again shattered by two disappointing programs.

The outspoken Frenchman, who had also messed up in Turin four years ago, had been tipped as one of Russian Yevgeny Plushenko's main challengers but suffered a total meltdown in Vancouver.

I had a bad attitude. I was not listening to anybody. I wanted to do it my way, Joubert told reporters on Thursday after earning a combined total of 200.22 which left him as one of the also-rans.

I want to... look to the future and change my attitude from being a boy to a man.

I'm not the same person any more. I'm not myself.

In Canada, Joubert certainly did not resemble the man who had won the 2007 world championship. On Thursday, he landed on his on his bottom following his opening quadruple toeloop and looked like he wished the ice would open up and swallow him as he took several seconds to get back on his feet.

From then on, his program completely unraveled as he tripled his second quad, put a hand down on a triple Lutz and performed only nine of his 13 scheduled jumps.

His free skate score of 132.22 confirmed that this would be an Olympic experience to forget.

HARSH LESSON

French federation president Didier Gailhaguet, Joubert's former coach, said the 25-year-old had only himself to blame.

Brian is not this carefree boy ready to kill everyone. He is not what he used to be. Today, he lacks confidence because he lacks workload, Gailhaguet told Reuters.

You don't get an Olympic medal starting to prepare only two months before the Games. This happened because he does not want to go and train abroad with the best, because he is not able to work six hours a day.

I had offered him the possibility to work with two icons, Brian Orser and Kurt Browning in Canada. But since Brian did not want to leave (his hometown) Poitiers, it did not happen.

Joubert felt he has learnt a harsh lesson and should have come better prepared to Vancouver.

My problems come from outside the ice rink, from my personal life. I lost a lot of energy outside the ice rink, said Joubert, who plans to compete until at least 2012.

I knew that (things weren't the way they should be) but I didn't react accordingly. I know what I have to do but it is not easy. It wasn't a good moment (to realize what was wrong).

Canada